Amitabha's Kitchen Chronicles

In pursuit of my hobby to cook, this year I made my first pickle - a typical Bengali mango pickle during the summers. A glimpse of the results. As a follow up to hone the skills further, had planned to make the North Indian vegetable pickle which is typically made during the winters. While I am not very fond of pickles, this is one pickle which I had been having since childhood and remains one of my most liked ones. I had the first taste of this pickle made by one of my maternal aunts staying in Delhi. My earlier attempt at making this pickle two winters back ended in a fiasco. Hence, this time I exercised extra caution. The fact that we have a nice open to the sky balcony helped further by ensuring good amount of sunlight for the 'solar cooking'. The recipe I followed is as follows: Ingredients: 1. Vegetables: Cauliflower, Radish and Carrot - 1 kg totally - about 300gm each of the radish and carrot - 500gms for the cauliflower because the stems will come off. I also added fres...

For the past few years, baking a Christmas cake has been a regular affair at home. And since this has only been the last 5-6 years, I am always on the lookout for healthier recipes year on year, but unfortunately using it all the regal ingredients. This time I discovered a new recipe and added some twist to make a it a tad bit healthier. And this is how it turned out .. The recipe is here for reference: Ingredients: ·    Melted butter, to grease the pan ·   Mixed dry fruits (chopped) soaked in rum for atleast 10 days. It can be kept soaked for 2-3 months as well. Keep replenishing the rum as the fruits gets exposed. you can also add tutty fruity though I did not use that this year. This year I used o    Cashew o    Black Currant o    Raisins o    Pistachios o    Dried figs o    Almonds ·          1 tablespoon finely grated orange rind · ...

For quite sometime we have been coming across various patrons and "well wishers" of a Calcutta mutton joint named Golbari. And the dish in specific mention was Golbari'r Kosha Mangsho. Golbari is actually the round building located at the 5 road crossing at Shyambazar in Kolkata. I am told that the original owners have now transferred the ownership and the place is now known as New Punjab Hotel. Kosha Mangsho loosely translated means a dry mutton dish with excess efforts on maturing part on the pan while cooking. At home we have been contemplating having this dish for quite sometime now. With the potential risks of LDL, Uric Acid, expanding girth, etc it's a challenge to have red meat at home, as a common fare. Hence the entry of red meat needs adequate pampering 😋. This time we thought we will try the preparation of the famed Golbari'r Kosha Mangsho. Mr Google helped us extensively and we landed up on the page of Anwesha,  http://peanutsontheroad.com . And thank...

Biryanis are probably one of the purely Indian Subcontinental dishes having the most variety. Hardly do we come across a dish with such rich variety and innovative mixes. Hyderabadi, Awadhi, Kolkata, Malabari, Yakhni and the list goes many more and preferences are equally distributed. Biryanis vary by region, by ingredient and by origin. For a quick read, visit http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biryani Early Nov we went on a short vacation to simply unwind and relax from the daily humdrum. And the location was apparently unlikely to many, Vizag. This being one of our most favourite cities has a different charm, Hudhud or no Hudhud. The damage to the city was saddening to see, but the come back was more heartening. We saw that the city was almost back to normal. Coming to the relaxation part, the photograph should be worth the explanation. Countless cups of coffee, sitting on the balcony, with feet up on the wall and DURING THE DAY TIME IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WEEK!! During our stay, the good...

The ladies in my house are not very fond of coconut chutney and hence we use our very own red chutney to go with the South Indian dishes of dosas and idlis .. Ingredients : Ginger- 1 inch - chopped Garlic - 5/6 cloves Onions - 2/3 medium ones, chopped in large chunks Tomatoes - 2 medium ones, chopped in large chunks Green chilly 1 or 2 Peanuts (optional)- 2 tbsp Tamarind - 1 tbsp Salt Process : Dry roast the peanuts and keep it aside. Warm oil in a pan and once hot, add the ginger and garlic and sauté it for about 2-3 mins. Add the onions and tomatoes and sauté for about 4-5 mins. I like the tomatoes and onions to be little charred. Cool and add all the ingredients to the chutney jar / blender. Run the blender till you get the paste if desired consistency. Add a little water if needed. Enjoy the chutney with warm idlis or dosas.

Rawa idlis with coupled with my red chutney or Podi is one of the favourite items on the breakfast at home. The recipes goes thus....  Ingredients for about 20 idlis : - rawa / sooji - 2 cups - sour curd - 1 cup - 2 teaspoons each of mustard seeds, urad dal, chana dal - half a teaspoon of asafoetida (hing) - few curry leaves (4-5) broken into half - a tbsp of chopped cashew (optional) - one inch ginger grated - a carrot about 6 inches, grated (optional) - fresh sprig of coriander leaves - salt to taste - fruit salt - 2 teaspoons (eno / Alka seltzer or the like) Process : Dry roast the rawa and take it out and let it cool Take about 2 tbsp of white oil and once hot, add the mustard seeds and dal Once the mustard seeds starts crackling, lower the flame and add the curry leaves and cashew. Turn off the flame after 30 secs. Add to the roasted rawa. Add the curd, other ingredients and salt and mix the entire mix well. Now add water little at a time and keep mixing till you get the right...

Raw mangoes are here and that's the trigger of the onset of summer. Over the last 2 weeks during my weekly visit to the Sunday farmer's market, raw mangoes are available aplenty. This coupled with the numerous gorgeous snaps on various web pages of the cooking aficiandos, had me contemplating to make something similar my way. Found some prawns in the fridge and the gorgeous snaps on Priyadarshini's blog ( http://allthatsdelicious.blogspot.in/2014/03/aam-kasundi-diye-dimer-jhaal-eggs.html ) had me in the kitchen with my pans and ladles out. As per the discerning ladies at home, it turned out pretty eatable I guess. And with the demand of the recipe on my FB page, there was no other option by to do a quick recap... Ingredients: About 300 GMs of shelled and cleaned up medium sized prawns 1 medium size mango grated 1 medium sized onion coarsely grated 1 large potato cubed 1 tsp of ginger paste (you can also use freshly grated ginger) 1/2 tsp of turmeric powder; 1/4 tsp of Kashm...